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Summer is the season for sun, sand, ice cream, and the perfect opportunity to dive into fun sensory play activities and creative crafts with your little ones.

One of the best things about summer sensory play is that you can take the fun outdoors, which makes messy play more manageable and stress-free for parents!

Whether you’re looking for summer sensory play ideas to enjoy at home, or planning engaging experiences for your preschool or kindergarten setting, we’ve pulled together 7 of our favourite summer activities that are simple to set up, lots of fun, and support important early years skills like fine motor development, coordination, creativity, concentration and imaginative play.

1. Cloud Dough Ice Cream

Cloud dough (also known as moon sand) is a crumbly yet mouldable sensory base, making it perfect for pretend ice cream play!

What you’ll need:

• 4 cups of flour  
• ½ cup vegetable oil  
• Coloured chalks  
• Grater  
• PlayTRAY  
• Ice cream scoops  
• Ice cream cones (real or pretend)
  

How to play:

1. Mix the flour with the vegetable oil.  
2. To make your ice cream flavours, divide the batch up (the PlayTRAY’s removable compartments are perfect for this) before grating different coloured chalks into them.   
3. If you want chocolate ice cream, add a spoonful of cocoa powder instead of the chalk.  
4. Provide store-bought or toy ice cream cones and scoops, and let your child get creative!   
5. Coloured rice makes fabulous sprinkles for the top of your ice cream. Check out our Rainbow Rice for Play recipe for instructions.

If your child is still mouthing, bake the flour in the oven first at 180C/350F for five minutes and colour with food-grade ingredients like cocoa powder to make it taste-safe. Beetroot powder is great for replicating strawberry ice cream!    

Children will love creating their own pretend ice creams while strengthening hand muscles and coordination through scooping, pouring and moulding the cloud dough.    

💡Top tip: Cloud dough keeps for six months if stored in an airtight container, so you’ll get loads of use out of the same batch. 

2. Ice Painting

Ice painting is such a simple sensory activity that’s very refreshing on a hot summer’s day! The painted ice cubes look beautiful and shimmer in the sunlight.

What you’ll need: 

• PlayTRAY  
• Ice cubes  
• Watercolours  
• Paintbrushes  
• Bowl of water
  

How to play:

1. Freeze water in ice cube trays.
2. Once frozen, empty the ice cubes into the PlayTRAY.
3. Provide watercolours, paintbrushes and a bowl of water for children to paint the ice cubes. 
   

Ice painting encourages creativity and self-expression while helping children develop fine motor control through painting and grasping the slippery ice cubes.    

💡Top tip: If you’re using a PlayTRAY make sure you wash it when playtime is over to prevent staining. 

3. Tissue Paper Lollies

Tissue paper and water – who knew they were the perfect combo for making ice lollies/popsicles!     

If your child loves arts & crafts, they’ll love this tissue paper activity. It’s a brilliant hands-on craft that supports creativity, concentration and fine motor control. 

What you’ll need: 

• Bleeding tissue paper (regular tissue paper may also work, but it might not be as vibrant)  
• Glossy photo paper/card or regular card
• Lolly sticks  
• Ice lolly/popsicle template   
• White crayon (optional)  
• Water
• Tape
  

How to play:

1. Wet your piece of photo-card.
2. Arrange strips of tissue paper onto the card in whatever design you like.
3. Spray with water again until the tissue paper is completely damp.
4. Leave for a minute or two.
5. Remove the strips of tissue paper and allow to dry.
6. On the back of the card draw around your popsicle template and cut it out.
7. Use tape to stick a craft stick to the back.
   

To create the white sprinkle effect shown in the video, draw them onto the photo card using a white crayon before wetting it and adding the tissue paper. The colour doesn’t take to the waxed areas leaving the sprinkle patterns. 

Every lolly turns out completely unique, making this a lovely open-ended craft for children of different ages to enjoy together.    

💡Top tip: This activity can stain, so make sure your child is wearing old clothes or an apron. 

4. Taste-safe Cereal Sand

Bring the beach to your home with taste-safe cereal sand, a simple summer sensory activity for babies and toddlers, and a great way to use up stale cereal that you tend to find at the bottom of the box. 

What you’ll need: 

• Cereal hoops, such as Cheerios
• Blender
• PlayTRAY 
• Bowls
• Funnels
• Scoops
  

How to play:

1. Pour cereal hoops into a blender.
2. Once blended, pour into the PlayTRAY.
3. Provide scoops, bowls and funnels for exploration. 
   

This taste-safe sensory activity is ideal for babies, toddlers and mixed-age groups, inspiring imaginative play while helping children strengthen coordination and fine motor control. 

5. Petal Water Fountain

This nature-inspired sensory setup is a lovely way to cool down on hot summer days. The solar fountain really enhances water play and fits perfectly in the middle of the PlayTRAY. 

What you’ll need:

• PlayTRAY
• Water  
• Food colouring  
• Cornflour (optional)  
• Solar water fountain   
• Fallen flowers/petals 
• Scoops and bowls
  

How to play:

1. Place the PlayTRAY compartments into the lid of the PlayTRAY.
2. Fill each compartment with water and add your chosen shade of food colouring.
3. Fill the deep tray of the PlayTRAY with water and place the solar water fountain in the middle.
4. Collect fallen flowers/petals and add to the coloured PlayTRAY compartments and deep tray.
5. Provide scoops and bowls for children to collect the flowers. 

This calming screen-free sensory setup encourages children to explore nature through play while enjoying the sights, sounds and movement of water.    

💡Top tip: To make the water cloudy, add a spoonful of cornflour (cornstarch).

6. Shaving Foam Ice Cream

If your child loves messy play, then make sure you give shaving foam ice cream a try! 

What you’ll need:

• Shaving foam  
• Food colouring  
• Store-bought or toy ice cream cones  
• Sprinkles   
• PlayTRAY 
• Scoops
  

How to play:

1. Pop the PlayTRAY’s removable compartments into the deep tray.
2. Add shaving foam to each compartment and add a drop of food colouring.
3. Provide cones and scoops and let your child create their ice creams!
   

If your child is still mouthing, you could use a can of squirty cream instead of the shaving foam, but on a hot day it will quickly turn to liquid.    

This sensory role play activity is perfect for a summer’s day, encouraging imaginative play while building fine motor skills through scooping and sprinkling

Try asking your child questions during play, like: “What’s your favourite flavour?” Or ask them to build you an ice cream with different numbered scoops to build their numeracy skills.    

💡Top tip: You can use store-bought sprinkles for your toppings, or make your own by colouring rice – see our Rainbow Rice recipe for details.  

7. Ocean Salt Mark Making Sensory Tray

Salt trays are a fun, hands-on way for children to practise mark making — an important early step towards learning to write. As children experiment with drawing lines, shapes and patterns in the salt, they naturally build fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination through play. 

What you’ll need:

• Salt   
• Clear plastic bag  
• Blue food colouring   
• PlayTRAY 
• Mark making/pre-writing flash cards
  

How to play:

1. Pour salt into a clear plastic bag.
2. Add a few drops of blue food colouring.
3. Scrunch the bag until the salt is evenly coated.
4. Pour onto the lid of the PlayTRAY and allow to dry.
5. Download our pre-writing flash cards.
6. Place the cards in the PlayTRAY along with some shells and sea creatures.
7. Encourage your child to copy the pattern on the card by tracing their finger in the salt.
   

Use the pre-writing flash cards as a first step for practising shapes. When your child is ready, you can move on to letter formation. Our silicone alphabet letters are great for this – just place them in the PlayTRAY and your child can trace round them, fill them with salt, make imprints or copy the outline.

Get creative this summer! 

These sensory play activities are a fantastic way to enjoy summer-themed play all year round. Not only do they spark creativity and curiosity, they also support fine motor skills, concentration and hand-eye coordination through play. 

If you give any a try, don’t forget to tag us @inspiremyplay. We love seeing your sensory setups brought to life, and so do our lovely Inspire My Play community!     

Looking for more easy sensory play ideas? Explore our range of sensory play tools and starter bundles, designed to make messy play easier, more engaging and more enjoyable for children and parents. 

Happy PlayTRAYing!